Next Practices in Partnerships i am pleased to introduce Next Practices in Partnerships, a compendium of 95 submissions from I AAMD’s membership demonstrating the many ways art museums work with different organizations and people to further their missions and benefit their communities. This is the fourth edition of the Next Practices series, following 2016’s Next Practices in Diversity and Inclusion, 2015’s Next Practices in Digital and Technology, and 2014’s Next Practices in Art Museum Education. Art museums regularly join forces with many different partners, from social service organizations to K-12 schools to universities, to leverage the core capacities of both organizations and serve a wider range of participants or a specific audience. Partnerships have many different objectives, from providing solace and a creative outlet to people with Alzheimer’s or dementia, to welcoming recently relocated refugees to their new home, to fostering diagnostic skills in medical students through close looking at works of art. No matter the main objective, all of these programs are designed to improve the quality of life of participants and positively impact their communities. This edition of the Next Practices series highlights these creative and innovative partnerships to spark new ideas for how museums serve the public. Next Practices publications also provide practical information on how institutions start, support, and evaluate these programs. This edition includes expanded operational details for each program to encourage shared learning across the museum field. I hope you find Next Practices in Partnerships to be both useful and inspirational in showing the many ways in which art museums— and their partners—foster vibrant communities. Brian Ferriso President, Association of Art Museum Directors The Marilyn H. and Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. Director Chief Curator The Portland Art Museum AAMD Next Practices in Partnerships 2 Artists Businesses Colleges and Universities Cultural Organizations Disability Services Educational Services Foundations Government Agencies Immigration and Refugee Services International Law Enforcement LGBTQ Organizations Libraries Media MUSEUM: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo,Medical Schools NY PARTNER: Operation COM: Serving Children of the Military Mental Health Services Veterans and their Families Connecting through Art MILITARYMilitary Ser viSERVICESces Neighborhood Organizations Pre-K-12 Schools/School Districts Science Centers Senior Services Social Groups Social Justice Social Services Teachers Think Tanks Photo Tom Loonan Volunteer Service Organizations n March 2016, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery launched a collaborative event for military families. The I museum’s Veterans and their Families Connecting through Art program joined withYouth Operation Developme COM:nt Serving Children of the Military. A partnership between the Mental Health Association of Erie County and the Veterans One-Stop Center of Western New York produced the Operation COM program. Both the Albright-Knox’s Veterans Connecting through Art program and Operation COM aim to welcome veterans and their families with positive recreational activities. This program was made available at no cost to all participants and started with a Sunday morning breakfast buffet. Following this, museum docents led several small groups through the museum. The concepts presented during this family fun tour were reinforced through an art-making activity for the whole group. Everyone supported each other in a very messy, tactically engaging project that included acrylic paint, canvas, ceramics, and plaster. Participants had the option to choose one material or explore them all; most chose to combine materials. The final artworks that were created in the hour-long art lesson were put on display in the museum’s education exhibition space. Empowered Expression: An Access AK Artist Exhibition was made accessible to all museum visitors throughout the month of April in celebration of Military Child Month. Each participant in the Sunday morning art-making activity was also given one free admission pass to visit the exhibition and the entire museum. The PFC Joseph P. Dwyer Peer Support AAMD Next Practices in Partnerships 3 Program, which provides funding for Operation COM, helped to support the museum in hosting an evening reception for all the participating military families in recognition of their shared creative experience. Audience: Is this partnership targeted to a specific demographic? This partnership was specifically developed to welcome military families. While the museum’s monthly Veterans Connecting through Art program welcomes adults, as do other local museum programs, there was an identified need and desire to welcome veteran and military families into visual art spaces. Why was this partnership developed? The importance of offering military families an in-depth and meaningful experience in the museum was initially recognized and developed through informal discussions between the museum’s Veterans Connecting through Art program staff and the staff at PFC Joseph P. Dwyer Peer Support Program. This relationship enabled additional connections to be made with Operation COM. Since 2010, Operation COM has offered Erie County residents bi-weekly activities for youth, ages 3 and up, who have one or more family members serving in any branch of the United States military. By utilizing non-traditional approaches, such as art-making projects, creative-expression, and group work, children are encouraged to talk about their family member who is currently deployed, has recently returned from service, or is getting ready for a deployment. A desire to connect families with cultural resources that offer art-based experiences that families can access locally and independently of the Operation COM program grew out of this mission. When did this partnership begin? Direct conversations between Albright-Knox staff and Operation COM staff began in the winter of 2015. Source(s) of funding, both start-up and ongoing: Veterans Connecting through Art is made possible through the generous support of the James H. Cummings Foundation, Inc. Endowment, an anonymous donor, and National Fuel. Why has this partnership been successful? Participants have shared directly with staff members of all organizations that they felt they had the opportunity to connect with and understand artworks in a supportive environment that would not have been available on an independent visit. Form(s) of evaluation: Participants as well as staff members of both organizations have shared informal observations. We will be requesting more formal participant feedback during the 2017–18 program year. Is this partnership original or modelled on another program or initiative from your institution or elsewhere? At the outset of this program, we were unable to find any models for the partnership. Number of external participants or staff served in individual sessions: On March 6, 2016, we welcomed 31 children and 25 adults, totaling 56 people. On April 22, 2016, we hosted 37 people for the evening reception. Number of external participants or staff served annually: Annual participation has been approximately 100 adults and children (and a smaller number of service animals). Staff contact for program: Jennifer Foley, Director of Education and Community Engagement AAMD Next Practices in Partnerships 4 Artists Businesses Colleges and Universities Cultural Organizations MUSEUM: Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, AK Disability Services PARTNERS: United States Geological Survey, the University of Alaska,Artists the Smithsonian EArcticducational S eStudiesrvices Center, and dozens of artists Businesses Foundations Polar Lab ARTISTSArtists COLLEGESColleges and AND Univ ersitiesUNIVERSITIES GOVERNMENTGovernment Agencies AGENCIES Businesses Cultural Organizations Immigration and Refugee Services Colleges and UniversitiesDisability Services International Cultural OrganizationsEducational Services Law Enforcement Disability Services Foundations LGBTQ Organizations Educational Services Government Agencies Libraries Foundations Immigration and Refugee Services Media Government AgenciesInternational Medical Schools Immigration and RefugeeLaw S Enerfviocrcesement Mental Health Services LGBTQ Organizations International Military Services Beachfront installation by Buck Walsky, with a Silent Disco, 2016. Libraries Law Enforcement Neighborhood Organizations he changes affecting the landscape and the lifeways of the North have brought increased attention Media T to and interestL GinB TtheQ O rArcticganiza tionsacross disciplines, including, science, art, literature,Pre-K-12 S chools/geopolitics,School Distandri cts culture. The Arctic represents a number of major issues, including climate change, resource extraction, Medical Schools logistics on a grand scale,Libraries cultural conflict and adaptation, and futurist scenarios,Scien andce C ewhatnters happens in the Arctic is a provocative indicator of what will happen everywhere else. Today, as a museum and as a Mental Health Services community, we see ourMedia location in the world as our key, defining feature. We Sareenior a SNorthernervices museum, distinctly positioned to convey an authentic narrative for the region that reflects this specific place in Military Services all of its complexity. PolarMedical Lab Schools is a series of exhibitions, programs, internationalSocial artist Groups residencies, and conversations that convey narratives through contemporary art, science, technology,